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N0. 6|6,375. I Patented D60. 20, "398. M. VIDAL. COIN FRE ED APPARATUS FOR GENERATING X-BAYS.

(Application filed Oct. 27, 1897.) 3 Sheets-Sheet I.

(No Model.)

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COIN FREED APPARATUS FOR GENERATING X-RAYS. (Application filed Oct. 27, 1897.) (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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H. VIDAL.

COIN FBEED APPARATUS FOR GENERATING X-RAY-S.

(Application filed Oct. 27, 1897.)

(N0 Model.)

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Patented Dec. 20, I898.

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' NlTED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

MAURICE VIDAL, or PARIS, FRANCE.

COIN-FREED APPARATUS FOR GENERATING X-RAYS."

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 616,375, dated December 20, 1898-- Application filed October 2'7, 1897. Serial No. 656,549. (No model.)

T 06% whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MAURICE VIDAL, a citizen of the French Republic, and a resident of Paris, France, have invented a new and useful Coin-Freed Apparatus for Generating X- Rays, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This apparatus comprises a mechanical automatic system connected with a dark fluoroscopic chamber provided with an automatic shutter and with a Crookes tube which is illuminated automatically. A counter or a coin introduced into the apparatus causes the dark fluoroscopic chamber and the Crookes tube to be simultaneously operated. The apparatus contains an accumulator forsupplying the current to a Ruhmkorff coil the poles of which are in communication with the vacuum or Crookes tube. The circuit of the accumulator is closed by an automatic mechanism operated by the introduction of the coin or counter, thus effecting the production of fluorescence in the interior of the Crookes tube.

In the annexed drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional elevation showing the general arrangement of the apparatus with one of the sides removed. Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional elevation of the automatic mechanism. Fig. 3 is a sectional plan of the same. Figs. 4 and 5 are views in elevation and in plan of a multiple apparatus. Figs. (5 and '7 are details, partly in section, Fig. 6 being a plan, and Fig. 7 being a sectional elevation on the line 7 7 of Fig. 6.

The apparatus consists of a wooden box or chamber divided into several compartments. Compartment 1 contains the automatic mechanism, Fig. 1, and is closed by a door at the side of the apparatus. Compartment 2 contains the apparatus for producing the X-rays. It is closed by the door 6. (Shown open in the drawings.) Compartment 3 (shown in dotted lines) contains a Ruhmkorff coil. It communicates with compartment 2 through a door having two holes for the passage of the conductors. Compartment 4 (shown dotted) contains the accumulator, which communicates with compartment 2 by springs a. and b, engaging the terminals or binding-posts of the accumulator. Compartment 5 is for receiving various appliances, such as the viewing-glass and the rods 8.

The automatic mechanism comprises an angular lever 9, Figs. 2 and 3, carrying at one of its ends a contact 10, insulated by a plate 11, of ebonite or other insulating material, and at its other end a plate 12, Figs. 1 and 2, on which a coin or a metal disk of a predetermined weight falls, contact being eitected by uniting through the piece 10 two flexible blades or tongues 13 1.4, the one, 13, being connected by a wire 50 to the spring I), and thereby to one of the terminals of the accumulator, the other blade, 14, by a wire 51 to one of the terminals of the primary coil of the Ruhmkorfi induction apparatus. The other pole or terminal of the primary coil is connected by a wire 52 to the spring a and by it to the second pole or terminal of the accumulator. The circuit of the primary coil is therefore closed when the blades 13 14 are in electrical connection through the medium of the contact-piece 10. The poles of the secondary coil are connected to the Crookes tube or X-ray generator as described.

To efiect contact of the blade 13 with the contact-piece 10, I employ a cam 15, pivoted on a vertical axis 16 and provided with a rod 17. This cam is adapted to press the blade 13 against the contact-piece 10. The other blade 14 is held against said contact-piece by its elasticity. A circular casing 18 contains clockwork, which, on its spring being wound up, causes a disk 19 to revolve. This disk carries a tooth20, which, on the spring being set, operates the cam by pressing against the rod 17. The disk is also provided with a curved rod 21 for throwing the cam 15 out of action by striking the rod 17 at a point above the cam and on the opposite side to that engaged by the tooth 20. A rod 0 during the winding of the clockwork acts against a lever 22, pivoted horizontally on an axis 23. This lever 22 is provided with a flat arm 24, adapted to retain the disk or coin on the plate 12 in the manner fully described hereinafter. A spring 25 and a pin or rod 26 hold the lever 22 in place.

In order to wind the clockwork, I use a pressure device composed of a horizontal rod 27 and of a button 28, projecting from the eX- terior of the box. This device slides in a support 29 and the forked end 30 of the rod 27 engages during its forward movementa bent rod 31, attachedto the disk 19. This arrangement engages the rod 31, to be displaced during the forward movement of the rod 27 in such a manner as to cause the disk 19 to turn, which efiects the winding of the spring of the clockwork and also allows the backward movement of the rod and button without effecting the engagement of the rod 31. I regulate the amplitude of the movement so that by pressing the button the clockwork is Wound up for a predetermined timefor instance, fifteen seconds-at the end of which, the spring being relaxed, the clockwork stops.

The action of the pushing device 27is double. During the time it is efiecting the winding of the clockwork it also raises the shutter of the dark fluoroscopic chamber 7, Fig. 1, in order to reveal the fluorescent screen arranged at the end of this chamber. This arrangement, which for the clearness of the drawings is not shown in Figs. 2 and 3, is shown in Fig. 4, which represents the multiple apparatus, of which I will speak hereinafter.

The coin is introduced through a slot 33, placed in the lid of the box. It falls on the plate 12 by following a vertical channel 34, Figs. 1 and 2.

The Crookes tube 35 is carried bya foot 36 and a series of articulated arms, so as to enable the tube to be placed at any convenient height and position, Fig. 1.

The apparatus works as follows: The coin being introduced through the slot 33 falls through the channel or chute 24 onto the plate 12 at the end of the lever 9. The lower end of the chute 24 has a lateral opening,which is of smaller height than the diameter of the coin. Thus when the coin by its weight depresses the left-hand end of the lever 9 the coin will protrude through said lateral opening and engage the arm 24, which will hold the coin in the position illustrated by Fig. 4. Vhen the lever 9 is in this position, the contact-piece 10 is between the blades 13 and 14. The operator now pushes the rod 27 inward. This movement by means of the rod 31 causes the disk 19 to perform a partial rotation in the opposite direction to the hands of a watch. Such movementwi uds the spring of the clockwork to a predetermined extent. Furthermore, during the rotation of the disk 19 the tooth 20 engages the rod 17 of the cam 15 and so turns the arm as to force the blade 13 against the contact-piece or conducting part 10 of the lever 9. The cam then holds the lever in this position irrespective of the action of the coin. During the further rotation of the disk 19,caused by the inward movement of the rod 27, .the rod 0 strikes against the lever-22 and swings it laterally on its pivot 23, thereby removing the plate 24 from engagement with the coin and allowing the latter to drop. The lever 9, however, remains in its tilted position as long as the cam 15 clamps it between the blades 13 14. The electric current being established by the contact of the blades 13 and 14 with the contact 10 the Ruhmkorff coil commences to work and produces fluorescence in the Crookes tube. The mechanism of the clockwork being in operation by releasing the rod 27 causes the disk 19 to turn in the reverse direction of the winding movement. The rod 21 strikes against the rod 17 and throws the cam 15 out of action, thus interrupting the circuit of the accumulator. The lever 9 under the action of the counterweight 37 falls, and theinsulated plate 11 comes between the blades 13 and 14 and so causes the apparatus to cease working, even if the release of the cam 15 should fail to positively bring the blades 13 14 out. of contact with the lever 9.

Having described the mechanism of the invention applied to only one automatic apparatus, I will now describe how with the same source of generating X-rays (accumulator, coil, and Crookes tube) I can operate a multiple apparatus, allowing several personsto use the viewing-glasses at the same time or not independently of one another.

Fig. 4 shows the side View of an apparatus comprising five dark fluoroscopic chambers; but I may alter this number at my convenience. Fig. 5 shows the same apparatus in plan View on a smaller scale. A A A A A are the five dark fluoroscopic chambers. a a a a a are the five viewing-holes, adapted to the form of the face of the observer and closed at the entrance of the dark chamber by a transparent sheet. I) b b b b are the five fluorescent screens covered with platino cyanid of barium or any other fluorescent substances. Each chamber is closed by a shutter similar to that shown by 0 Fig. 4. This shutter is a simple sheet of black paper or of any other convenient substance, turning around a horizontal axle d, fixed in the sides of the chamber, and carries a rod with a counterweight e. The axle d is connected with the automatic movement contained in the easing 13*, the door of which is shown removed, Fig. 4, by means of a cord f, which is secured to a crank-arm d on the horizontal axle d and passes downward through one of the hollow supports g of the dark chamber. The lower end of the cordfis attached to a crank-arm h, extending upwardly and rearwardly from a horizontal shaft 2', with which said arm his rigid. The shaft 2' carries another cran k-arm j, also extending upwardly and rearwardly. The upper surface of this arm jis engaged by the left-hand end of a lever l, fulcrn med upon a horizontal axis Z, which extends crosswise of the shaft 2', Figs. 3 and 4. The lower surface of the right-hand end of the lever l is engaged by one end of the lever 'm, pivoted at m about an axis parallel to the horizontal shaft 5. The upper end of the levermis farther to the rear than the lower end thereof and is in the path of the push-rod 27. (See Figs. 3, 6, and 7.) When the coin has been introduced and has turned the lever by means of its weight, the rod 27 is pushed in, which effects the winding of the clockwork and lifts the shutter in the following manner: The forked head of the rod 27 presses on the lever m, raising the right-hand end of the lever Z, the left-hand end of which being depressed actuates the crank-arm j, mounted on the arbor 2'. The arbort'turns and with it the arm 71 which pulls the string and opens the shutter 0 This shutter is maintained open as long as the arm h is lowered, and in order to lock the leverm, so as to keep the arm hlowered, I vuse a V-shaped pivoted lever 32, pivoted about a vertical axis 32, as indicated in plan view Fig. 3, and connected with the clockwork by its contact with the rod 21. The straight member of the latch-lever 32 carries a hook 0. 'When the rod 27 is pushed in, the lever m, engaging the right arm of the lever .32, which is spring-pressed, pushes said arm aside until the end of the arm is cleared,when the spring will cause the lever 32 to swing transversely, so as to prevent a return movement of the lever m by the hook 0. The lever m is thus held stationary, and consequently the arm his kept lowered. When the rod 21, Fig. 3, strikes the rod 17, Fig. 3, it at the same time slides on the left member of the V-lever 32, and when the rod arrives at the end of its way it presses on the left member of the lever 3:2 to cause the right member of the lever 32 to let the end of the lever an escape off its book 0. The arm hbeing no longer held against upward movement, the counterweight e of the shutter causes it to fall back and hide the screen.

Instead of leaving the Crookes tube in the box it can be freely exposed to view, as shown by O, and then the two conducting-wires of the Ruhmkorff coil can be carried through the posts D D which, together with the hollow rods g g, serve as supports for the chambers. The coil and the accumulators are lodged in the central space provided between the casings B of the automatic mechanisms, Fig. 5.

- Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is 1. An X-ray apparatus having a coin-controlled lever, contact-pieces arranged on opposite sides of the plane in which said lever swings, and arranged to engage said lever upon opposite sides, an X-ray generator located in a circuit controlled by the said lever and contact-pieces, and a clockwork or motor for effecting an engagement of the contact devices with the lever for a predetermined period.

2. An X-ray apparatus having a coin-controlled lever, contact-pieces arranged on opposite sides of the plane in which said lever swings, and arranged to clamp the lever be tween them, a motor or clockwork for efiecting a clamping engagement of the contactpieces with the lever for a predetermined period, and an X-ray generator located in a circuit controlled by the said lever and contact pieces.

8. An X-ray apparatus having a coin-com ing two contact-blades, a switch-lever movable between said blades, a cam for efiecting an electrical connection of the blades through the medium of the switch-lever, and a clock work or motor for actuating the cam.

5. An X-ray apparatus comprising a coincontrolled lever, spaced contacts arranged on opposite sides of the said lever and adapted to be electrically connected by said lever, an induction-coil, a working circuit including the coil and said contacts, a fluorescent tube connected to said coil, a fluoroscope arranged in operative relation to the tube, a shutter for normally concealing the screen, means for operating the shutter, and a device for breaking the contact of the lever after a predetermined time, substantially as described.

6. An X-ray apparatus comprising an X- ray generator, a circuit-closer therefor including a switch-lever arranged to move from an active to an inactive position, and a clockwork or motor for closing the circuit when the switch-lever is in the active position.

7. An X-ray apparatus comprising an X- ray generator, a circuit-closer therefor including a switch-lever, having a conducting portion, a movable contact device arranged to register with said lever in one position thereof, anda clockwork for moving said contact device against the lever to close the circuit.

Dated this 2d day of October, 1897.

MAURICE VIDAL.

Witnesses:

EDWARD P. MAOLEAN, ARTHUR G001). 

